Tom Cruise’s Christmas settlement

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news late Friday that Tom Cruise and Bauer Publishing (INTOUCH, LIFE&STYLE) have settled. Cruise was suing the magazines for $50 million for suggesting that he’d “abandoned” daughter Suri after Ninja Katie left him in the middle of the night but he was the one who took the worst hits during discovery as Bauer lawyers went full gossip on his ass, taking the opportunity to ask him about his dealings with Xenu and his dating practises. There were also the comments he made about how hard it is to make movies – kinda like fighting in Afghanistan. Those documents were then leaked online, making him look even more the fool.

As I wrote at the time, major tactical error for Team Tom. No one remembers the bullsh-t that INTOUCH and LIFE&STYLE regularly come up with anyway. Turning it into a legal situation only highlights the story that much more, to say nothing of how he opened himself up to even more exposure and voluntarily put himself in a room with tabloid representatives with licence to probe.

So it’s no surprise that it ended up in a settlement. Financial terms were not disclosed. Does it matter if they’re trying to spin it like he won? A joint statement from representatives for both sides reads as follows:

"Bauer Publishing, as well as In Touch and Life & Style magazines, never intended to communicate that Tom Cruise had cut off all ties and abandoned his daughter, Suri, and regret if anyone drew that inference from anything they published."

Friday afternoon, the last weekend before Christmas this comes out. Who’s reading it? Not enough people for it to make a difference in public perception. Which means Tom Cruise’s reputation is still intact: he loves the Church of Scientology and he hasn’t been seen with his daughter in months.